Orientation - Day 2

The meeting was held in the Westin Grand. Westin's shtick is the "heavenly bed", a phrase way too close to heavenly rest for my comfort when laying down to sleep. The room is covered in catalogs, and all the items have little tags that announce that they are for sale in the catalog or online. My turned down bed had a note on it last night. Not good night. Not pleasant dreams. Instead: you can buy these pillows. It was like waking up on the 5th floor of Macy's.

Meetings recommenced at 8:30. This was the nuts and bolts part of the orientation. Justin outlined health insurance, travel documents, etc. Then we talked about in-country life. Housing accommodations are provided - furnished studio - and are all located near Smolenskaya metro stop. That's basically shouting distance from the Kremlin. Amazing.
Sonya Chernogortseva - the program director in Moscow - talked about the logistics support her office will provide. Then Svetlana talked about the professional assignments and how to go about thinking about them.

So, the first day in Moscow. Picked up at the airport. Issued a cellphone with all other participants and administrators numbers pre-programmed. Dropped off at your apartment. Picked up the next day for a shopping trip - where to go, and what to get, and transportation. Very practical learning.

We broke for a very nice lunch and had a great time. The level of excitement and anticipation was palpably increasing in the group after each part of the program. I was wondering just how high a fever pitch it would reach when we returned for the afternoon presentations.
Well, if ever there was a verbal bucket of cold water it came from the next speaker, the head of the US-Russia cultural association. He read the history of Russia since 862 AD off a sheaf of papers. Mind you, practically everyone in the room has a masters in Russian Studies, if not an undergrad degree. His English was extremely broken and strange. He inexplicably referred to Russia as "the Russia". He took 4 tries at "emphasis" before it came out right. Then, we did the question and answer session in Russian - and he was nearly as unintelligible. He repeated the second half of every third sentence. Very peculiar. Then he made the critical mistake of saying there wasn't nationality- based discrimination in the Soviet Union. Our Russian instructor got her hackles up and asked exactly what the hell he was talking about. That prompted even more stumbling. It was the equivalent of me telling people that there wasn't any racism in the US based on my lack of racial discrimination. That doesn't mean it didn't happen. Anyway, he was a disaster and Justin apologized when he was gone.

Next, we met with an intercultural training guy. He was too hammy by a factor of about 5. Cringe inducing melodrama. But he set up a decent framework for analyzing and addressing situations that seemed reasonable enough. I have to grudgingly admit that it was worthwhile.
So, a short break and then we reconvened for the Woodrow Wilson Institute dinner and Awards. The recognition of dignitaries was long, with ambassadors from all over the world. Then, they asked the ten Alfa Fellows to stand and be recognized for their devotion to intercultural exchange. Very nice. Except the congressman from Indiana who introduced us said "Alfa Fellers". Oh well. I guess my intercultural tolerance should extend to my own countrymen at times.

Dinner was speeches interspersed with brief videos. I'd have rather had more speeches. The videos were of the NBC Olympic moments sappiness. Very saccharine, tear-jerking sentimentality. Still, dinner was fun. One of the honorees was Vagit Alekperov, the head of LUKoil. Oddly enough, they sort of glossed over the part of how he created the company. Perhaps maybe because its not so flattering. Well, anyway, the point now is he has billions and is becoming a good corporate citizen in Russia. Ego te absolvo.

After dinner, the Russian ambassador's wife came and found us. Her husband had a prior commitment, but he told her to make a point of seeing us. She gushed about how impressed he was with us, and how wonderful it was that we were going to Russia, and that we'd love Moscow, and etc. That wasn't a run-on sentence - I'm trying to convey how rapid fire she was. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought she was the ambassador. Really impressive woman. She invited everyone to their residence, the former Pullman estate near the White House which she has renovated back to its Gilded Age opulence.

Not that night, of course. Instead, I went out for drinks with Justin, Rachel, Jim, Byron, and Hans. We found an Irish bar and put away a few pints. DC, unfortunately, has wide swathes of nighttime lameness. But that wasn't the real point of the evening. I really started getting to know my fellow Fellows, and I'm much happier for it.